State police to review case involving Daley nephew

Illinois State Police will review the case of a man who died in 2004 after a drunken confrontation involving a nephew of Mayor Richard Daley, a spokesman said Friday.

Master Sgt. Isaiah Vega said state police had agreed to the request from Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez for an independent investigation into the death of David Koschman, 21.

“We will review the evidence that has been collected and decide which investigatory steps are required,” Vega said.

In a letter to state police, Alvarez cited “new information” brought to her attention, including witnesses who now say Chicago police inaccurately portrayed their statements about the incident near the Rush Street nightclub area.

But Alvarez said she had no reason to suspect there was any wrongdoing by the Chicago police in the original investigation.

She noted no witness at the time was able to positively identify Daley’s nephew, Richard J. Vanecko, as the person who “punched, shoved or pushed” Koschman on April 25, 2004, causing him to fall back and hit his head on the street. He died 12 days later.

Alvarez also wrote that some witnesses said Koschman was the aggressor in a confrontation with a group that included Vanecko.

Alvarez called for the independent investigation a day after Chicago-Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin called on Alvarez to answer questions about the case.

The newspaper has published a series of front-page stories asking questions about what happened in Koschman’s death.

Alvarez was unavailable for comment Friday, but her spokeswoman, Sally Daly, said prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence in 2004 to go to the grand jury for possible charges. Police recently re-investigated the case but never brought any evidence to prosecutors to review, Daly said.

Vega said there was no timeline for the state police investigation and declined to comment further on how it will be run.